386 ChApTEr 17 | ChaLLenGes to the statUs QUo | period seven 1890 –1945
Q [Mr. Darrow]. You have given considerable study to the Bible, haven’t you,
Mr. Bryan?A [Mr. Bryan]. Yes, sir, I have tried to.
Q. Then you have made a general study of it.
A. Yes, I have; I have studied the Bible for about fifty years, or sometime more
than that, but, of course, I have studied it more as I have become older than
when I was but a boy.Q. You claim that everything in the Bible should be literally interpreted?
A. I believe everything in the Bible should be accepted as it is given there; some
of the Bible is given illustratively. For instance: “Ye are the salt of the earth.” I
would not insist that man was actually salt, or that he had flesh of salt, but it is
used in the sense of salt as saving God’s people....Q. But when you read that Jonah swallowed the whale—or that the whale
swallowed Jonah—excuse me please—how do you literally interpret that?A. When I read that a big fish swallowed Jonah—it does not say whale.
Q. Doesn’t it? Are you sure?
A. That is my recollection of it. A big fish, and I believe it, and I believe in a God
who can make a whale and can make a man and can make both do what He
pleases....Q. Now, you say, the big fish swallowed Jonah, and he there remained how
long—three days—and then he spewed him upon the land. You believe that the
big fish was made to swallow Jonah?A. I am not prepared to say that; the Bible merely says it was done.
Q. You don’t know whether it was the ordinary run of fish, or made for that purpose?
A. You may guess; you evolutionists guess.
Q. But when we do guess, we have a sense to guess right.
A. But do not do it often.
Q. You are not prepared to say whether that fish was made especially to swallow
a man or not?A. The Bible doesn’t say, so I am not prepared to say....
Q. But do you believe He made them—that He made such a fish and that it was
big enough to swallow Jonah?A. Yes sir. Let me add: One miracle is just as easy to believe as another....
Q. Just as hard?
A. It is hard to believe for you, but easy for me. A miracle is a thing performed
beyond what man can perform. When you get beyond what man can do, you getTopIC I | modernity 38718_STA_2012_ch17_381-404.indd 387 01/04/15 4:17 PM